Nuclear Technology

We are students at Dos Pueblos High School, and we are trying to raise awareness about nuclear technology. Overall, nuclear technology is beneficial and should be used in the energy, medicine, and weapon fields. After doing extensive research and sharing our findings in a class discussion, we have come to three consensuses.

Our consensus for the field of medicine is that medicine needs to be more regulated, and there should be universal restrictions and amounts administered for different levels of cancer. In the nuclear weapons field we believe that weapons are essential to national security but should not be used unless we are provoked.

On the extremely controversial topic of nuclear energy, we agreed that nuclear energy is beneficial and very efficient and should continue to be used. Nuclear waste is the biggest counter argument to nuclear energy. It is hard to dispose of and has a very large half-life, or time for half of the radioactive isotopes to decompose. Our opinion on nuclear waste is that the government should put more resources into lessening the half life of the waste and making it more manageable. If the nuclear waste is easier to deal with, then nuclear waste becomes more desirable. This consensus relies on the assumption that as soon as we find an equally efficient and environmentally safe alternative, we put that into action.

We believe that getting our consensus out to the public can help people who do not know about these nuclear fields make educated decisions and spread the word about these conclusions. Spreading the word will help us find a way to make nuclear energy safer and work on finding alternatives in the future.